South Africa's Renewables Program Rolls Out 136-Megawatt Jeffreys Bay Windfarm

Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Globeleq (London, England) and Mainstream Renewable Power (MRP) (Dublin, Ireland) are members of a consortium that has developed the 138-megawatt (MW) Jeffreys Bay windfarm in South Africa's Eastern Cape province.

Globeleq already has an extensive, African-based power portfolio and has developed 4,000 MW of power in emerging countries. MRP is developing more than 4,000 MW of wind and solar power in South Africa.

The other members of the consortium are Old Mutual (LSE:OML.L) (London); Thebe Investment Corporation (Johannesburg); local companies Enzani Technologies and Usizo Engineering; and a local community trust. The civil and electrical work, including the construction of a new substation, will be executed by a joint venture between Murray & Roberts Construction (OTC:MURZY) (Johannesburg) and Consolidated Power Projects (Midrand, South Africa).

The Jeffreys Bay project is part of the South African government's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP). The project is being installed on a 3,700-hectare site between Jeffrey Bay and Humansdorp, in the Kouga local municipality district. A number of other windfarm projects are being developed in the Koura region.

Power will be generated by 60 Siemens SWT 2.3 MW wind turbines, each with a rotor diameter of 101 meters. The windfarm is sited close to a 132-kilovolt Eskom transmission line. Through this line, power will be supplied to the national grid starting in mid-2014. The project will create 200 jobs during construction and 11 permanent operation and maintenance jobs over the 20-year life of the facility.

Siemens Wind Power will supply expertise and technology for the supply, installation and erection of turbines and will maintain the turbines for 10 years.

A 20-year power purchase and implementation agreement was signed in November 2012 with the state power utility Eskom, which will purchase the power from the first eight REIPPPP windfarms at $0.13 per kilowatt hour. For related information, see November 9, 2012, article - Bank Backs IPPs in South Africa's First Program for Renewables.

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